YOUR VIEW: Override vote would be 'yes', but angrily so

ROBERT MANNING

Tuesday

Jul 31, 2007 at 12:01 AM

As a South Dartmouth resident whose principal address is elsewhere, I am not able to vote for or against the override proposal that is to be decided today. If I were, after much diligent soul- and fact-searching, I would vote grudgingly vote "yes" to save the town from degradation. But I would do so with bitterness on my tongue and anger in my breast.

As a South Dartmouth resident whose principal address is elsewhere, I am not able to vote for or against the override proposal that is to be decided today. If I were, after much diligent soul- and fact-searching, I would vote grudgingly vote "yes" to save the town from degradation. But I would do so with bitterness on my tongue and anger in my breast.

I sympathize with members of the present Board of Selectmen. They have been saddled with the perplexing task of pulling the town of the mess that was left for them. But I have no sympathy for the boards that have preceded them over recent years, nor for the well-paid, generously pensioned town officials who have been entrusted with providing municipal services and presumably managing town affairs. They have done their jobs irresponsibly, and have been derelict in their obligation to keep Dartmouth citizens informed of their steady slog into fiscal quicksand.

I have read or heard several comments that there is no one to be blamed for Dartmouth's plight, that it is just one of those unfortunate things that is happening to many towns in Massachusetts, and that we are all to blame. Well, that is what selectmen of the past and town officials would like to hear. But the town's huge deficit didn't happen overnight. It has taken several years of insufficient leadership, financial mismanagement and careless spending to bring us to Override Junction.

Whatever the outcome, the override controversy is an alarm bell for Dartmouth citizens. If the town's present mode of lackluster leadership prevails, there will be a call for yet another override in the near future. And another after that.

It is time for some harsh self-examination on the part of all Dartmouth voters. The need is for stronger leadership and more open governing. Perhaps there is a need for a wholesale re-staffing of town government. Or, if we're all to blame for our dilemma (which I obviously don't believe is the case) perhaps Town Meeting government is no longer the right form of government for this town. Let's think about it.

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